February 5, 2008
09:00 AM (EST)

News Release Number: STScI-2008-07

Isolated Galaxy or Corporate Merger? Hubble Spies NGC 1132

February 5, 2008: The elliptical galaxy NGC 1132 reveals the final result of what may have been a group of
galaxies that merged together in the recent past. Another possibility is that the galaxy
formed in isolation as a "lone wolf" in a universe ablaze with galaxy groups and clusters.
This image of NGC 1132 was taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Data
obtained in 2005 and 2006 through green and near-infrared filters were used in the
composite. NGC 1132 is located approximately 318 million light-years away in the
constellation Eridanus, the River.